The Gravepainters and the Elephant
by KidatHeart5
Summary: When the Gravepainters deliver a baby elephant to Mrs. Jumbo, it is soon revealed that the baby has huge ears! La Muerte talks Xibalba into watching over Dumbo with her until everything clears up. However, when things take a turn for the worse, will the Gravepainters step in before it's too late?


_Through the snow and sleet and hail, through the blizzard, through the gales, through the wind and through the rain, over mountain, over plain, through the blinding lightning flash, and the mighty thunder crash, ever faithful, ever true, nothing stops him, he'll get through._

The clouds parted to reveal a moon and a stork carrying a bundle in its beak. It was soon followed by a flock of other storks with similar bundles.

 ** _Look out for Mr. Stork, that persevering chap. He'll come along and drop a bundle in your lap. You may be poor or rich, it doesn't matter which. Millionaires, they get theirs like the butcher and the baker. So look out for Mr. Stork and let me tell you, friend, don't try to get away. He'll find you in the end. He'll spot you out in China or he'll fly to County Cork. So, you better look out for Mr. Stork._**

 ****The lead stork pointed to something below him and the flock. They swooped down and released the bundles before flying upwards again. The bundles each had their own parachute and descended upon a circus. Many of the animals received their precious gifts that night: their new bundles of joy, their babies.

 ** _Look out for Mr. Stork. He's got you on his list, and when he comes around, it's useless to resist…Remember those quintuplets and the woman in the shoe…Maybe he's got his eye on you…_**

 ****One elephant, Mrs. Jumbo, was waiting patiently for her bundle to arrive. Every time a bundle neared her, she tried to grab for it, only for it to move away from her. She looked up towards the sky for any sign of her precious baby. When she didn't, she hung her head and sighed in despair.

The next morning, the train, Casey Junior, whistled as it readied to depart. All of the circus staff was loading the animals and cargo on the train. Every animal boarded the train gladly…except for Mrs. Jumbo. When she scanned the sky for her bundle again, the pompous elephant tapped her impatiently. After the last of the animals were on board, the ringmaster shouted from the caboose, "All aboard! All aboard!"

The train whistled as if it was saying, "All aboard! Let's go!" At first, it tried to go, but instead it bumped into the car behind it. It caused a chain reaction with all the other cars before the caboose reversed the effect. The sudden jump returned to Casey Junior and it gave a yell before chugging down the tracks.

 ** _Casey Junior's comin' down the track, comin' down the track with a smoky stack. Hear him puffin' comin' round the hill. Casey's here to thrill every Jack and Jill. Every time his funny little whistle sounds…*whistle blows*…everybody hurries to the circus grounds. Time for lemonade and Cracker Jack…Casey Junior's back, Casey Junior's back…_**

 ****Meanwhile, in the clouds above, a large winged silhouette flew while carrying a big bundle. When he emerged from the clouds, Xibalba was already exhausted from carrying the special delivery. He landed on a lone cloud and after setting down the bundle, he panted, "Why…do I…have to be…the one to…carry this?" Just then, a small bird landed on another cloud and transformed into his wife, the beautiful La Muerte. She chuckled, "Is it not courteous of a gentleman to carry something for a lady?" Xibalba retorted, "Hey, I didn't ask to run an errand, especially for an elephant."

La Muerte saw that he had no pleasure in delivering a new life to someone like Mrs. Jumbo, so she reminded him, "We are doing this because one of the storks got sick." Xibalba differed, "But we are gods of death, not life. I don't think it's even right for us to do this." La Muerte knew that was true, but she loved every being in the world, human and animal. She knew she had to convince him to do this, even if it was one time. She said to him in a witty tone, "Try to think of it this way: bringing a new life into the world means one more being in the afterlife."

Xibalba knew that she got him there and sighed, "All right. You win, _mi amor._ After all, you do have a soft spot for animals…" He eyed the bundle and continued flatly, "…especially for big loads like this one."

Just then, they heard a train whistle blow. The Gravepainters looked down and saw Casey Junior traveling up the railroad. La Muerte said, "Well, there's our stop." Xibalba sighed, "Finally. Come on, _mijo_ , let's get you…"

He reached behind him, but grabbed air. He looked behind him and saw that the bundle was sinking beneath the cloud. "Oh, no, you don't!" he cried as he grabbed for it. He tried to lift it back up, but the weight proved too much for him and the bundle dropped from the cloud, taking Xibalba with it. La Muerte saw this and transfigured into a stream of marigold petals to zip towards her falling husband. When she came to both him and the bundle, she transformed into her regular form and grabbed the bottom of the bundle. This managed to slow the fall to a complete stop.

Xibalba smiled, "Thanks!" La Muerte smiled back and said, "Anything for my charming husband." She pecked him on the cheek and he chuckled. They then both descended onto the train's caboose and began walking on the roofs of the cars. La Muerte called out, "Mrs. Jumbo. Mrs. Jumbo!"

Xibalba decided to call out, too, and shouted, "Calling Mrs. Jumbo!" The Gravepainters then came upon a skylight and Xibalba leaned into it and asked, "Mrs. Jumbo?" When he heard an animal growl, he jumped back in surprise. La Muerte chuckled at the look on her husband's face and said, "I'll take it from here." She then levitated the bundle to continue her search. Xibalba looked at her in aggravated disbelief and said, "Really? You couldn't have done this before?"

La Muerte turned to him and answered, "I just wanted to see if you were considerate enough to carry this for me." When she started walking again, Xibalba huffed and followed her. She called out for Mrs. Jumbo once more before she asked, "Oh, where is Mrs. Jumbo?" Just then, the Gravepainters heard shouting from two cars up and saw four trunks sticking out from the skylight. The elephants beckoned:

"Yoo-hoo!"

"Over here!"

"This way, you two!"

"In here, in here!"

"Yoo-hoo!"

"This is the place."

La Muerte and Xibalba both carried the load to the skylight while the latter breathed, "At last." La Muerte said, "I'll take it from here." She transformed into a stork and peered into the skylight. She asked the four elephants, "Which one of you ladies is expecting?" One of the elephants giggled while the snooty elephant harrumphed, "Humph! Not me." The elephant with the red headdress retorted, "The very idea!"

The pompous elephant said before pointing to Mrs. Jumbo, "Certainly not! Over there. Of course." The other elephants agreed, "Yes, of course. Right over there." Mrs. Jumbo looked at La Muerte bashfully as the latter said, "Oh, of course."

With the greatest of ease and effort, La Muerte floated gracefully down with the bundle in her beak. Xibalba, seeing the whole thing from the skylight, grunted, "Hmph! She didn't have to carry the whole thing for _miles_!" La Muerte presented the bundle to Mrs. Jumbo and said, "Here is your baby with eyes of blue, straight from heaven right to you." When the elephant anxiously tugged at the tie of the wrap, La Muerte said, "Wait. I'm sure you have to sign here." She pulled out a pad of paper, on which Mrs. Jumbo gladly put an X.

Before Mrs. Jumbo could resume trying to open her bundle, La Muerte stopped her, "One moment, please. I think this is still part of the service. Forgive me, I'm very new at this." She pulled out a whistle, blew into it, and began to sing, " _Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear…_ "

She stopped short when she realized the baby didn't have a name. She asked Mrs. Jumbo, "Oh, dear. What's his name?" Xibalba remarked above, "Heavy Load." Thankfully, none of the elephants could see him or hear him, but La Muerte definitely could. She took no delight in Xibalba's remarks, but she acted as if it was just her and the elephants.

Mrs. Jumbo answered bashfully, "Jumbo…Junior." La Muerte said, "Jumbo Junior. That is a very nice name." Xibalba scoffed, "Jumbo Junior? Oh, please. You could do better than that." It took La Muerte all of her strength to keep focused and not kill her husband at the moment.

She blew the whistle again and continued singing, " _Happy birthday, dear Jumbo Junior. Happy birthday to you…"_ At the last verse, she flew upwards as gracefully as she did when she arrived with the bundle. Back on the rooftop, she transformed back into her normal self and Xibalba said, "Well, I guess it's time to be heading back, _mi amor_. Our lands won't rule by themselves."

La Muerte, visibly peeved by Xibalba's remarks, telekinetically grabbed her husband's wing and said, "We're not going just yet. Because of your poor behavior, we will stay to see the baby." Xibalba groaned, "Fine, but I will be sitting here while you're watching that one-ton bundle I had to carry on the way here." He sat on the edge of the roof and pouted. La Muerte uttered under her breath, "You are impossible sometimes, Xibalba."

She peered into the skylight and saw Mrs. Jumbo unwrap the cloth to reveal a baby elephant. The four elephants all exclaimed, "Aw!"

"Look at him."

"Look at him."

La Muerte admitted that the baby elephant was very cute, even compared to her own children. The elephants were still fawning over him as he looked up to see his mother for the first time. La Muerte asked Xibalba, "Are you sure you don't want to see him, my love? I think he's very adorable." Xibalba grunted, "Sure, after all of the hours I've spent laboring to get him here." La Muerte retorted, "Don't forget about the hours _I've_ spent laboring to get our children into the world." Her husband groaned, "Fine, I'll at least look at him."

Just as Xibalba came over to look into the car, the pompous elephant tickled the baby under the chin and said, "Cootchie, cootchie, cootchie, cootchie, cootchie, cootchie, cootchie." The baby elephant then started to sneeze before stopping himself. After a few moments, he gave out a big sneeze that exposed his giant ears! All of the elephants were shocked to see this, not to mention the gods.

Xibalba chuckled, "Whoa! That kid's got ears the size of San Angel!" La Muerte responded to this by slapping him telekinetically. Xibalba cried out, "Ow! What did I say?" They then turned back to what was happening inside the car. They saw the elephant with the blue headdress grab the baby's ears and laugh, "Oh, these! Aren't they funny?" Mrs. Jumbo responded by slapping her trunk away from her son's ears.

The god of death pointed out, "Hey, that's what you did to me!" La Muerte said nothing and kept watching in silence. The scene then turned ugly as the elephants started to make fun of the baby, who they now dubbed as "Dumbo". It was far from La Muerte to turn away from a being in need, especially one who was different from the rest. After Mrs. Jumbo closed the hatch on the other elephants, Xibalba said, "Well, I think she's got this one covered. It looks like our work here is done."

He was about to leave until La Muerte said, "I refuse to leave." Xibalba turned back to her in surprise and cried, "What?!" La Muerte explained, "This little elephant is different from others and he could be mocked for his ears for the rest of his life. I, for one, am not about to let that happen." Xibalba asked, "But what about our deal not to interfere in human affairs? I know you said that!" His wife smirked, "Yes, but I said nothing about the affairs of _animals_ , did I?"

Xibalba knew she got him there, but he wasn't about to waste his time on a meager animal. He said, "How about a wager? We stay with the elephant and his mother for a few days to see if they need assistance. If they do, we'll remain to help them until everything is all right. And if not, we'll return to our realms." La Muerte nodded and shook his hand, "Very well. I will agree to your terms."


End file.
